NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – To most taxi riders, $100,000 left in the back of a cab is as good as gone, but John James is a lucky man.

After returning to his apartment at the National Arts ClubSunday afternoon, James realized he forgot a bag with $100,000 worth of jewelry and cash in the back seat of a taxi cab.

“I thought that it was the end of the world, James said.

With the help of a friend in city government and a receipt he thankfully kept, James was able to track down cabbie Zubiru Jalloh.

“The man had my possessions because he took it from the backseat when new passengers got on and were, I guess, messing with my tote bag,” James told 1010 WINS. ”He asked to have it lifted up to the front seat where he protected it and then took it home.”

TLC chairman David Yassky said it was important for people to keep their taxi receipts.

“We’ve got our GPS locators in every taxi, so if you give us the receipt, we can identify the taxi cab and find if your property is still there,” he said.

James got his bag back Monday and offered Jalloh a $1,000 reward, which the cabbie reluctantly accepted. Jalloh was also asked to attend the club’s Valentine’s Day party but declined the invitation.

When presented with the fact that he could have easily lied and said there was no bag in the cab, Jalloh, who is Muslim, said “of course.”

“People in New York, you know, try to give back because the city has been so good to us and you hear such horrible stories it’s nice to hear positive ones,” James said. “People that go about their business, everyday, doing and living are the real heroes.”

This is my job — to be honest and truthful to people. That’s exactly what my religion told me. He said ‘please, have this money’ so he gave me one thousand dollars cash,” Jalloh said.

What do you make of Jalloh’s honesty? Sound off in our comments section.

“This is my job — to be honest and truthful to people. That’s exactly what my religion told me. He said ‘please, have this money’ so he gave me one thousand dollars cash,” Jalloh said.

Bravo. Just bravo. That is a fantastic example. I honestly cannot say I would be so willful as to be so reluctant to the gift of $1,000 like that. I’d certainly return the bag, but a reward is nice. I can’t believe he was so reluctant to the reward!

But alas, he says he is Muslim–and he is certainly very devout. I bet he didn’t even spend that $1,000 on himself. I bet he gave it to charity. 🙂

//Jeremy Neil 16 February 2011 at 2:30 pm

It’s nice to hear good news instead of bad. Every act of kindness, small, great or in between, counts. No religion has a monopoly on the philosophy of “Love thy neighbor,” and this is proof.

//Eric Koenig 17 February 2011 at 8:35 am

It’s good to read stories like this the highlight the “everyday average event in the life of a Muslim ….. who isn’t in the news for something negative. These are the under-reported stories.

I particularly like how he truthfully states that Islam does not accept lying, particularly since so many people hear about “taqiyya and not only lack the understanding of the word, but fail to understand that only Shi’ite Muslims use this concept.

//DeucePrez 17 February 2011 at 9:33 am

In other words, the vast majority of the world’s Muslim population do not subscribe to that teaching (of “taqiyya“)!!

But one can go to YouTube at any time and listen to the likes of Geert Wilders, Pam Gaffler/Geller, Robot Spencer and their ilk claim that “taqiyya is a commonly used tactic taught in Islam.

And why do networks parade thise hateful Islamaphobes onto their their notworks as “experts on the topic of Islam”??!! If by ex-pert, they mean former farts (specifically, lying old farts), I could buy into that!!